Draft appliance.



J. WAGNER.

DRAFT APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED D130. 27, 1911.

Patented Feb. 4, 1913.

Affbmey JOHN WAGNER, OF MOUNT VERNON, SOUTH DAKOTA.

DRAFT APPLIANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Feb. 4, 1913.

Application filed December 27, 1911. Serial No. 668,124.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J OHN VAGNER, a cit-izenof the United States, residing at Mount Vernon, in the county of Davisonand State of South Dakota, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Draft Appliances; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the, invention, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in draft appliancesand more particularly to a four horse evener.

The object of my invention is to provide a device by means of which fourhorses or other draft animals may be used to move a vehicle or otherobject and which will compensate for the faster or slower movement ofthe animals upon one or the other sides of the object drawn.

A further object of my invention is to centralize the pull of the draftanimals upon the object to be pulled.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be hereinafter madeclearly apparent in the specification and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown the preferred form which myinvention may take.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view, showing my improved formof draft appliance, and Fig. 2 is a rear elevation thereof.

Referring to the drawings in which similar reference numerals designatecorresponding parts throughout the several views, 1 and 2 are paralleldraft beams or tongues, which are to be rigidly connected to the machineor other device (not shown) to be drawn, said tongues being held inspaced relation by means of tongue-spacing plates 3, which are arrangedtransversely of said tongues. The tongue-spacing plates 3 are arrangedin pairs, upon the respective upper and lower surfaces of said tongues 1and 2; and pivotally secured between one of said pairs of spacing plates3 is a lever or evener 1 extending equidistantly from each side of itspivot point 5.

In the preferred form of my invention the lever or evener 4 is composedof duplicate upper and lower members, which are held in spaced relationby means of a collar 6 surrounding the middle portion of the pivot 5.The duplicate members of the lever 4 have links 7 pivotally securedbetween their ends, said links being extended rearwardly and pivotallysecured between the inner ends of draft levers 8. The draft levers 8 arealso preferably formed of duplicate upper and lower members; the uppermembers being seated upon the upper surfaces of the respective tongues,and the lower members being under said tongues and directly under therespective upper members. The members duplicate of the levers 8 arepivotally secured to the tongues 1 and 2, respectively, by means ofbolts 9, and the outer end portions, which are of considerably greaterlength than the inner end portions, are pivotally secured midway of thedoubletrees 10 by means of bolts 11. The doubletrees 10 are alsopreferably formed of duplicate upper and lower members which arepivotally secured to, and spaced apart by the plate-links 12, an end ofeach plate-link being embraced between the adjacent ends of therespective upper and lower doubletrees. Swingletrees 18, which are alsoformed of duplicate upper and lower plates, embrace the other endsrespectively, of the plate-links, between their middle portions, and arethere pivoted together.

Draft books 14 are pivotally secured at the ends of the swingletrees 13,the free ends of said hooks being forwardly and inwardly directed andare of such shape and length as to bear upon the front edges 13 when inuse. The free end of each of the hooks 14: is disposed at a greaterdistance from the pivoted end of said hook than the radial distancebetween the pivotal point thereof and the ends of said swingletrees 13,so that, when said hooks are turned out of the draft line, the free endsthereof will clear the ends of said swingletrees 13 and leave sufficientspace for the passage of trace rings when it is desired to engage thesame with said hooks.

My draft appliance is formed principally of heavy sheet metal and theprincipal sheet metal parts are spaced apart to a greater extent attheir middle portions than at their ends; being symmetrically curvedfrom their parallel middle portions to their parallel end port-ions, andso assembled and united as to form a combination of truss frames whichare practically indestructible. Moreover, I have provided a draftappliance that can be manufactured at a comparatively low cost, sincethe manufacture of the principal parts consists in the ordinary andsimple operations of sheet metal cutting, punching and bending, andthese parts being made in duplicate, may be fitted together by unskilledworkmen. It is obvious, therefore, that while I have provided a noveldraft appliance which is especially applicable in connection with twospaced tongues of a vehicle, I have also combined therein maximumefficiency, durability and economy.

While I have shown the preferred form of my invention, I desire it to beunderstood that modifications may be made therein Within the scope ofthe claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

hat I claim as new is:

1. The combination with a pair of spaced vehicle tongues, of duplicatespacing plates secured respectively to the upper and lower surfaces ofsaid tongues, an evener between said spacing plates, links pivoted tothe respective ends of the evener, a draft lever for each tongue, eachdraft lever consisting of duplicate upper and lower plates securedrespectively above and below the tongue and pivoted thereto and havingadjacent end portions of the upper and lower plates bent into proximityand embracing an end of said link therebetween and pivoted thereto, adouble tree for each draft lever, each double tree consisting ofduplicate upper and lower plates having their middle portions spacedmore widely apart than their end portions and having said middleportions seated between adjacent ends of the upper and lower draftlevers and pivoted thereto, a plate-link pivoted between adja cent outerends of the upper and lower double tree plates, and a swingle treeconsisting of duplicate upper and lower plates embracing an end of theplate-link therebetween and pivoted thereto.

2. The combination with a pair of spaced vehicle tongues, upper andlower spacing plates connecting the tongues, an evener pivoted betweenthe spacing plates, draft levers consisting of duplicate upper and lowerplates embracing said tongues therebetween and pivoted thereto, linkspivotally connected to the evener and having an end pivoted betweenadjacent ends of the draft levers, double trees consisting of duplicateupper and lower plates spaced more widely apart at their middle portionsthan at their end portions and pivoted at their middle portions betweenadjacent ends of the upper and lower members of the draft lever, andswingle trees secured to the double trees by means pivoted between theadjacent ends of the double tree members.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN WVAGNER.

Witnesses:

R. E. HARRIs, J. M. NEWELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

